The Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has revealed that the cause of death of the six children who died in Naledi in Soweto was organophosphate, a chemical substance usually used as a pesticide.
Motsoaledi accompanied by Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and Small Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams and officials from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, briefed the media on Monday in Kempton Park following toxicologist investigations conducted after their deaths.
According to Motsoaledi, authorities are still waiting to see if the organophosphate was also found at the spaza shops, after more than 80 health inspectors were sent to Soweto to gather more evidence regarding the matter.
The six children, aged between six and nine, started feeling sick after consuming a snack they allegedly bought from a local spaza shop owned by a foreign nation earlier this month.
Meanwhile Gauteng Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Tommy Mthombeni, who was also at the briefing, said the four people who were arrested and charged for selling an illegal chemical at a mall in Johannesburg, were released on warning and paid an admission of guilt of R2000.
However, they were not linked to the deaths of children in Naledi.